The Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo, Texas

Can you believe the size of this steak???

Remember the Burma Shave signs along the highway? Well, as you approach Amarillo, Texas there are many signs for The Big Texan and they sorta reminded me of those signs of years gone by.

The Big Texan Steak Ranch is a steak house famous for the 72 oz. Steak contest. If anyone can eat it in 1 hour it is free.

When we 1st stayed in Amarillo, a year ago, we thought HA! too cliché or hype for us. But then when we got our motel key (no RV yet) there was an ad on it that said they had free limo service. So we called and they picked us up in a white stretch limo that had the long horns on the front with a very friendly driver. OMG too funny. So on our way home from FL this year, they picked us up at the RV park. Very kewl!!

The inside has all sorts of stuffed animal heads and is very western, rustic.

When we visited the restaurant again this time we requested the exact same table as the 1st time right next to the platform where the contestants sit to eat the huge steak. Did you notice the garbage pails next to the table? Well, if they have to use them they are disqualified. Lovely thought!!!

The nice thing about having the limo driver doing the driving is that we could have a drink and not worry about driving ourselves. Gene had the beer sampler. It was 4 small glasses of his choice from over 12 different kinds of beer.

In order to cook the steak properly it has to be filleted, so it fills the plate even more.

This night 2 men were attempting to eat the steak, but there is a twist. Not only do they have to eat all the meat, they have to eat a salad, 2 fried shrimp, dinner roll and a drink

One of them was beginning to look like he was going to use the pail, so it was time for us to leave.

Besides all the decorations, the strolling musicians and hype, the staff is all very friendly and amazingly the food is great with huge portions. Love the gift shop too.

http://www.bigtexan.com/

On the Road to the Indy 500 /May 2009

Some very dear friends have had season tickets to the Indy 500 race over Memorial Day weekend, for the last 17 years. They decided last year they were not going to go this year. Since this event is on both of our lists of things to do before we die (now called a bucket list), we jumped at the chance.



The trip on Hwy 24 out of Colorado Springs, always has lots of antelope to see. This time there were only 32 spread out over 70 miles. They are normally not so close to the fence, but Gene was able to stop the RV, so I could take the photo. They just stood there looking at me. I said hi, how are you all today and they kept staring. So I said well bye, we need to get going. As if they understood me, they all turned at once and walked away. We laughed for the longest time.

It was a beautiful clear day with the bluest of skies. There were so many contrails from all the planes flying west. It is a wonder their paths never crossed – altho’ it looked like it was going to happen several times.

The 2nd day as we approached Vesper, KS we saw a huge solar windmill farm. There had to be hundreds. These babies are tall too. Notice in the 2nd photo how small the telephone poles are.

Since there is so much farmland it only follows to have grain silos. This complex is in Topeka, KS.

IL allows triple trailers and this is a UPS truck.

On every cross country trip we have taken this has always happened. We, for some reason take a little longer either getting gas or getting going again from eating lunch. Had we not been delayed we would have been in the middle of this accident. As it was we were just in the backed up traffic.

The CB truckers said the state truck driver cut off the Hostess semi and got broadsided. One driver had to be cut out of the truck, but we never found out the condition of either of them. The semi hit so hard that the engine broke out of its compartment.

Somebody has a sense of humor when they constructed these water towers next to each other.
As we approached from the west they appeared to overlap and really made us laugh.

As we got off the interstate in IL to refuel there were a herd of buffalo in a field, that we would never have seen if we hadn’t needed gas.

I keep missing the 3 crosses we see every so often. This one was so big it was easy to pull out the camera take a picture. It is huge - look at the semi on the road next to it.

No pictures but as we crossed the Missouri River on I70 the banks were overflowing. The flood went for about ½ mile east until it came to a high berm. The TV said the farmers are begging the government not to release any more water into the river because of all the flooding

Thank goodness we got here safe and sound and went to scope out the area around the Speedway. Did you know that the Indy 500 is held in the city of Speedway, IN

And this bar is directly across from the gate in the picture above. Pretty neat to see all those huge blow up bottles and can on top of the building.

I suspect there will be several people who will try to consume the equivalent of what would be in those bottles. LOL